The Brookhaven leader., 1887-08-04
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"A Discourse on the Pulpit Minis
tration OF the Future.
What the Preaching. Teaching and Ex-
hortation Must he In Order to
Reach An the People-PoInt and
Drevity to be Com mended

Rev T. Dewitt Talmage, In q recen
sermon at "Ths Hamptons," took for hi
subject: preaching, Teaching and Ex
nortattou," illustrating 1t from the fol
loving text:
or ministry, let us wait on our miuisterfng
81 he that teacheth on teaching: or he that eK
hortheth, on COMMUNICATIONS xii, z, q
Before the world is converted the styl
OF religious discourse will have 20 be con
verted. You might as we'll go into tn,
modern Sedan or Gettysburg with bow
and arrows instead of riff - and bomb
shells and parks Of 'tillery, as to expec
TO conquer this world for God by the old
styles Of exhortation and sermonology
Jonathan Edw ris preached the sermons
most adapted 20 the age in which he
lived, but IL those sermons were preached
now they would divide the audience into
cases, those sound asleep and those
wanting to go home
But there is religious discourse OF the
future-who will preach 1t have no idea;
In what rart of the earth il will be born
have no idea; in which demon nations
Of Christian il will be delivered l can
not guess. That discourse or eKhortsiion
NAV be born in the country meetin 2
house on the banks of the ST. Lawrence,
or the Oregon, or the Ohio. or the Tom.
bigbee, or the labama. The person who
shall deliver it may at this moment be in
a cradle under the shadow OF the
Sierra Nevadss, or IN New
England farm house. or amid
the rice-helis OF Southern Savau-
mas. Or this moment there NAV be some
young man in some of our theological
seninarieS in the junior or m iddle or
senior class, shaping that weapon OF
power. Or there NAV be coming some
new baptism Of the Holy Ghost on the
churches, so that some Of us who now
stand In the watChtowers of z on, waking
to real cation Of our present iueficiency,
may preach it ourselves, That coming
discourse or exhortation may not be Atty
years on Aud let US pray God that its
arrival may be fastened, while announce
to you what think Will be the chief
characteristics of that discourse or ex.
hortation when it does arrive, and l want
to make the rem rrks Of the morning ap-
propriate and suggestive to all classes Of
Christian workers.
First of all, | remark that the future re-
hgious discourse will be full of living
Christ in cOntradistinction to didaotir
technicalities. A discourse may be full
Of Christ though hardly mentioning his
name, and a sermon may be empty of
Christ while every sentence is repititious
of his titles The world wants a living
Christ, not Christ standing at the head Of
form n system of theology, but q Chri 5 I
who means pardon and sympathy and
coincidence, and brotherhood and life and
heaven, A poor mans Christ, A rich
mans Christ An ovprworked mans
Christ. An invalid's Christ. An artisans
Christ An every mans Christ
A symmetrical and fne-worked system
OF theology is we'll enough for theological
classes. but it has o more business in a
pulpit than have the technical phrases OF
an anatomlsb Or psychologist or phv.
sician IN the .sck-room Of q patient. The
world wants help immediate and world
uplifting, and it will come through a dis
ceu sc IN which Christ shall walk right
down into the immortal soul and take
everlasting possession Of It, filing 1t as
full OF light Us Is this monday ornament
That sermon or exh0rtation Of the future
will not deal with men In the thread bare
illustrations Of Jesus Christ In that
coming address there Will be instances of
Vicarious suffering taken right out of
everyday life, for there Is not day some
body Is not dying for others. AS the
Physician saving his dtphtheritic patient
by sacri6 ing his own life; as the ship
captain going down with his vessel while
he ls getting his passengers into the life
boat; as the fireman consuming in the
burning building while he is taking Q
child out Of 4 forth story window; as IN
summer the strong swimmer of East
Hampton, or Long Branch, or Cane May
or Lake George, himself persisted trying
to rescue the drowning; as the news
paper boy ono summer supporting his
mother for some years, his invalid mother,
when Cffered by gentleman fifty cents
to get some especial paper, and he got it,
and rushed up in his anxiety to deliver 1t,
and was crushed under the wheels Of the
train, and lay on the grass with only
strength enough TO say:
''Oh, what will become of my poor sick
mother nowl'
Vicarious suffering. The world is full
of it. An engineer said to me on loco.
motive in Dakot,:
1--WE men seem to be coming to a better
appreciation than we used 10. Did you
see that account the other day Of an en-
gineer who, to save his passengers, stuck
to his place, and when no was found dead
In the locomotive, which was upsld o down,
he was found still smiling, his hand on
the air brake1"
And as the engineer saii 1t to me, he
put his hand on the air-brake to illustrate
his meaning. and l looked at him and
thoughts:
You would be just as much of hero
IN the same crisis
Oh. in that religious discourse of the
future there will be living Illustrations
taken out from everyday life OF vicarious
In hot Wi hrip
mind the ghastlier sacrifice of Him who,
in the high places of the field, on the
cross fought our battles, and wept our
grief, and endured our struggle, and died
our death.
A German sculptor made an image Of
Christ and he asked his little child, two
years old, who it was, and she said:
THAT must be some very great man"
The sculptor was displ based with the
criticism, so he got another block Of
marble, and chiseled away on it two or
three years, and then he brought in his
little child, four or five years of age, and
he said to her:
"Who do you think that isl"
She said: That must be the one who
took little children in his arms and
blessed them"
Then the scul ptor was satisfied. Oh,
my friends, what the world wants Is not
a cold Christ, not an Intellectual Christ,
not severely magisterial Christ; but a
loving Christ, spreading out his arms Of
sympathy to press the whole world to his
loving heart.
But remark again that the religious
discourse of the future will be short. Con-
densation is dem lnded by the age in
which we live. No more need of long in